Daily Archives: April 3, 2020

In one of those silver linings, Paradox has created a fundraiser benefiting COVID-19 relief. For another day (or so)*, Paradox will be offering a variety of their games at a discount, with 5% of the proceeds going to the World Health Organization and the United Nations Foundation. Most interesting to me on that list is Hearts of Iron IV, which is 60% off.

It’s notable that the time when I began posting about historical wargaming on this website was shortly after the release of Hearts of Iron IV. This is no coincidence. The upgrade of Hearts of Iron to the latest engine was a big part of what got me in mood to write about historical games. Having recently wrapped up a bout of World War II gaming, and figuring that Hearts of Iron IV would take a little time to stabilize, I felt it would be more productive to launch myself into the Cold War before someday circling back to World War II and Hearts of Iron.

It surprises me that it has been nearly four years and I’ve yet to bite at the HofI4 apple. Part of it is that the game is only now starting to see significant discounts. Just in time for the engine to become obsolete. Of course, if I want to pay less than half of the listed price, I guess I shouldn’t expect the latest and greatest product.

Not included in this particular sale package, but on sale nonetheless, is the Europa Universalis: Rome sequel, Imperator: Rome. This one is half-price through to the end of the week. Furthermore, it is free-to-play for the duration of the sale. I was sorely tempted play Paradox’s last spin of the EU4 wheel when I was reading about the life of Cicero, but being cheap, I made due with digging out EU: Rome instead. Still being cheap, I’ll take advantage of the free play of Imperator because I can.

Maybe, though, I’ll spring for one or both of these Paradox games while the sale holds. I do have that check coming in the mail from Donald Trump.